High price of precious
metals has many residents cashing in
Bonnie Young of Bristol, far left, brought boxes
of silver flatware and tea sets to sell to Coin
& Jewelry Buyers of America Thursday. Here,
buyer Joe Hiltner looks for engravings on the
silver items.
HOWLAND — Debbie Shiley hasn’t worn her Niles
McKinley class ring for 34 years.

She never spent a roll of dimes dating back to
the 1940s and 1950s.

And a few nickels, wheat pennies and an old
wedding band haven’t been good for anything but
collecting dust where they were tucked away in
her Niles home.

But after a trip to Avalon Inn Thursday, she has
some free space at home and a pocket that’s $125
heavier.

‘‘It was just on a roll of dimes, my ring, an
old wedding band — there was nothing fancy about
it,’’ said Shiley. ‘‘I thought I did really well
— to get $40 for a roll of dimes.’’

Through Saturday, residents like Shiley have the
opportunity to sell their jewelry, old coins or
other forms of gold, silver and platinum at
Avalon, where Garfield Heights-based Coin &
Jewelry Buyers of America will be posted, ready
to shell out cash for their valuables.

Dana and Shawn Sims, of Warren, made about $220
after selling a broken necklace and bracelet
along with a pendant of Mary and Jesus.

‘‘We were just cleaning out her jewelry box,’’
said Shawn Sims. ‘‘We were going to take the
things to a pawn shop.’’

According to appraiser Cheri Bonner, it’s the
perfect time to sell the items. Market prices
for gold hovered at $944.20 an ounce, which is a
40 cent drop. Silver is up 17 cents at $18.55 an
ounce.

‘‘They can get double now what they could get
last year,’’ said Bonner regarding gold sales.

Because of that, she said, the company — which
holds such events all over this part of Ohio —
has seen many more customers in recent months.
Most sellers are folks 30 years old and up, she
said. They come in with bags of jewelry,
silverware and coins and some take the jewelry
right off their necks.

But a word of caution came from a local
goldsmith of 30 years as resellers trumpet the
near $1,000 an ounce mark. Though gold is
hitting record highs, Christopher Gillis of
Gillis Studios in Salem said people may want to
think hard before selling their jewelry for
scrap. Middlemen, the cost to melt it down and
the purity of a piece of jewelry can greatly
reduce the price people can get.

‘‘If you have a nice ring, you’re better off
putting it on E-bay,’’ said Gillis.

Or people can head to an area pawn shop to get
cash in.

Denise Talstein, owner of Larry’s Super Pawn in
Warren, said the store has seen the number of
customers go up, especially in the last month or
so since gold values have been rising.

‘‘Jewelry is the most popular,’’ said Talstein.
‘‘And it’s not a certain class of people. It’s
everybody from every walk of life.’’

Thursday, Bristol resident Bonnie Young showed
up with boxes of items. She’d just watched an
episode of ‘‘Oprah’’ that talked about
decluttering one’s life and went on a cleaning
binge. She brought along silver flatware and tea
sets — though she couldn’t sell them because
they weren’t sterling silver.

Coin and Jewelry Buyers of America buys broken
jewelry, coins made before 1964, watches, silver
dollars, wedding bands, and sterling silver tea
sets and flatware. They’ll buy anything that’s
precious metal, she said, and more than just
plated with either silver or gold.

If a particular piece of jewelry is in good
condition, said Bonner, they might resell it.
Gold, she said, is melted down and sold in bulk
to refineries, which then sell it to
manufacturers.

‘‘It’s kind of a way to recycle gold,’’ said
Bonner.

There were a few things Shiley couldn’t sell
Thursday like costume jewelry.

‘‘I came home with about 50 percent of what I
took,’’ she said. ‘‘But now I know I can put it
in a garage sale.’’